Delhi court summons Karnataka Cong leader Shivakumar in money laundering case

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, May 31, 2022: A Delhi court Tuesday summoned Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar and others while taking cognizance of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate, in a money laundering case. The court has directed him to appear before it on July 1.

 

On Thursday, after the ED filed the chargesheet, nearly three years after he was arrested by the central agency in a money-laundering case, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president said that it should have been done much earlier and alleged a “political agenda” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) without naming it.

“I have heard that they have filed a chargesheet. It seems to have been submitted to a court (in Delhi). We have not received a copy. A copy will be provided. Normally the chargesheet should have been filed within 60 days of my arrest,” Shivakumar said on Thursday.

Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in September 2019 in connection with the case on the basis of an Income Tax department investigation of his wealth that was conducted between 2017 and 2018.

The chargesheet has been filed in the run-up to the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, where Shivakumar is expected to play a central role as the state Congress chief, and polls for four seats in the Rajya Sabha next month, where his party and the BJP are expected to fight for the fourth seat.

The ED’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Shivakumar has origins in Income Tax searches carried out between August 2, 2017, and August 5, 2017, at some 70 premises linked to him, who was then the energy minister in the Congress government in Karnataka.

The Income Tax searches were carried out even as Shivakumar was protecting a flock of 42 Congress MLAs from Gujarat in a resort near Bengaluru in an attempt to help senior party leader Ahmed Patel win the Rajya Sabha polls that were scheduled on August 8, amid alleged poaching attempts by the BJP.

Based on the searches in 2017, the Income Tax department filed a complaint of tax evasion and false evidence against Shivakumar in 2018, and specifically the finding of Rs 8.59 crore in cash at four Delhi properties linked to associates.

Based on the Income Tax probe, the ED registered a case against Shivakumar in 2018 and he was arrested by the agency on September 3, 2019, before being ordered to be released from the Tihar jail on bail on October 23, 2019, by the Delhi High Court.

Courtesy: Indian Express